


It was the little things

by astartelydianna



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Assistant Darcy Lewis, Darcy Lewis's iPod, F/M, Oblivious Phil Coulson
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-06-02 02:50:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 13,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6547645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astartelydianna/pseuds/astartelydianna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was the little things. Little things that allowed her to see the man beneath the suit. It was the little things that allowed him to let her in through the cracks in his armour.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Waffles

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be a set of semi-connected one-shots or I guess mini-chapters in a story kind of thing. Just a random few scenes for this pairing that popped into my head so I figured I'd share.

"Whoa!" Darcy yelped in surprise at seeing the suited Agent enter the kitchen. "I thought you were supposed to be dead!" In response the man in front of her gave a look of mock surprise and patted himself up and down.

"I don't think I'm dead." He said dryly. "And I don't think you need to arm yourself with a spatula."

"Hey, anything can be a weapon of you hit hard enough with it." She shrugged, lowering the utensil back to the waffle iron. "Are you after breakfast?"

"I was actually looking for Mr Stark, it seems he is trying to allude me." 

"Oh, he was here about six minutes ago. He grabbed some of the muffins I made then went up to the helipad sooo...you know what yeah, he's probably avoiding you." Darcy told him, not looking in the least bit sorry.

"Nothing new there." He sighed.

"So wasted trip?" she asked, flipping the waffle onto the pile and squeezing more mixture into the iron.

"It would appear so."

"How about breakfast? At least then it wasn't a total waste. Tony took the muffins but I make awesome waffles." She offered, gesturing to the stools at the counter.

"Sure, why not." He agreed, moving to take a seat and loosening his tie. “Maybe I can get hold of Miss Potts at least.”

“If you head to her office at exactly quarter to eleven then you’ll catch her coming out of her morning meeting.” Darcy told him putting a plate in front of him and then pushing some bottles of syrup his way.

"You made Captain America waffles." He stated looking down at his plate.

"Well, yeah." She stated. "It's a Captain America waffle iron."

"Captain America waffle iron." He repeated. "Why does Mr Stark have a Captain America waffle iron?"

"He doesn't. I do and before you ask it's because Captain America is awesome." She replied, pointed her spatula at him again, as if daring him to say otherwise.

"He's your favourite?" Phil asked the young woman with an amused smirk.

"Well...I read the comics growing up, my Grandpa told me all these stories...it was never really a fair contest because I've been collecting Captain America stuff since I was about eight years old. Which Tony must never see." She said quickly before glancing at the ceiling. "Jarvis, add that to your privacy protocols, Tony Stark is never to know that I have been hoarding Captain America merchandise since I was eight."

"Understood Miss Lewis." The A.I. intoned promptly.

"Thank you." She grinned, putting her own plate on the counter and squeezing a generous amount of chocolate syrup on it.

"So, you have a lot of Captain America merchandise? What about the rest of the team" Phil pressed again.

"I have some Iron Man stuff that Tony practically threw at me. I also have action figures of the whole team and a teddy Hulk but yeah, mainly Captain America. Please, never tell him this, I’ve only met him a couple of times and I don’t want to freak him out. I even have one of the original trading cards from the war. It was my Grandpa's." She beamed.

"I have the set." He said before he even realised he had said it.

"The whole set? No way!" She gaped. 

"They were in mint condition until...I nearly died. Shield replaced them though so I guess technically I have two sets." He explained looking thoughtful. 

"You're making fun of me right now aren't you?"

"No, not at all. I even asked the Captain to sign them for me." He said seriously. 

“Did he?” she asked excitedly.

“Funny how often people will do things for you when they think you’re dead.” He commented, focusing back on his breakfast. “These are good waffles.”


	2. Gifts

“Please tell me you aren’t here from Shield to ask me a million questions and get me to sign a gazillion forms right now.” Darcy groaned, as she spotted a familiar Agent peek around the curtain of her bed. She flopped back into the cushions, wincing as it jarred her sore shoulder and arm.

“I’m not here from Shield to ask you a million questions and or get you to sign a gazillion forms.” He dutifully told her. “I came bearing gifts.”

“In that case, come on in.” she told him, shifting her good arm to sit up in her bed. She laughed out loud when she saw the Captain America balloon he held out to her.

“I think the tradition is flowers but I thought this would cheer you up more.” He explained, helping her to tie it to the bedframe.

“It’s awesome, thank you.” She agreed.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Like I got shot.” She replied bluntly. “I still can’t believe that I have been through several alien invasions and currently work at Avengers tower and yet I get shot in a bank robbery! And the cops haven’t even caught the guy who shot me!”

“Unfortunately there’s not a huge amount they can do without much evidence unless the two they did catch give up the rest of their team.” Phil nodded sympathetically. “I got you something else too.” He pulled an envelope from his pocket and Darcy took it almost suspiciously from him to open it. Out slid an old black and white photograph. Darcy gaped at the image of her great grandfather’s squadron stood with Captain America and some of the Howling Commandos. Across the top of the picture was two signatures in the same penmanship, Steve Rogers and Captain America. 

“Where did you get this?” she asked.

“Shield archives.” He shrugged. “Then I just asked him to sign it, you are in hospital after all. When he heard that he planned on writing a whole get well soon essay. Don’t be surprised if you get an in person visit to make sure you’re alright.”

“Did you tell him I had like stalker levels of fan stuff?” she asked him.

“No, why would I do that?” he blinked. “I just explained that your great-grandfather was in the photo and you grew up on stories about Captain America.”

“OK good, I can deal with regular level fan.” She nodded in relief. “You know you’re like my favourite Shield Agent ever now right?”

“Does it make up for the ipod?” he grinned.

“I’ll let you know.” She laughed.


	3. Bad Day

Phil glanced up in surprise as his office door opened. He found himself even more surprised when the person now stood in his office was none other than Darcy Lewis. 

“I heard you had a rough day.” She told him.

“We lost some good Agents.” He replied carefully, glancing back down at the paperwork in front of him.

“So you have two choices…” she announced. “I know for a fact that that paperwork doesn’t have to be completed immediately so… Option A; if doing that paperwork is making you feel better then I have coffee, sandwiches and doughnuts. Option B; if the paperwork is in fact not making you feel better then we go get some Chinese or something and get you home so you can eat and drink and watch TV until you fall asleep and the night security guys get the coffee and doughnuts.” She watched as he sighed and put down his pen again. “Is that actually making you feel better?”

“I think it did for the first hour.” He told her, leaning back in his chair and finally looking back up at her.

“Come on, you won’t be good to anyone if you’re exhausted.” She told him. “So we can leave these with Nigel and then go get some actual dinner.”

“You really don’t need to get me dinner.” He protested, standing and tugging his suit jacket back on. 

“It’s not about whether or not you can feed yourself, every now and then everyone should have someone take care of them.” She insisted, as they left his office. 

“Even you?” he asked.

“Even me.” She nodded. “Thor vets any guy who wants to date me, Bruce helped me with my degree, Clint comes and hangs out with me when he’s not on missions because he knows I don’t have many friends outside the tower and the ones in the tower are usually busy with science.”

“They’re your family.” He observed.

“Yeah, I guess they are.” She agreed. “Hey Nigel!” She handed over the coffee and doughnuts to the night staff before they headed to the closest Chinese for takeout. Turns out Phil’s apartment wasn’t much bigger than hers, although it was somewhat cleaner. 

“OK, you go sit down, I’ll raid your kitchen and bring through the food.” She commanded, and by this point Phil found he didn’t have the willpower left to resist. Instead he left his shoes at the door and headed straight for the couch. By the time Darcy reappeared from his kitchen with plates and cutlery, he had tossed his jacket over the arm of the couch and began flicking through the various stations. If he was honest, it was nice not to have an empty apartment after a day like today, the noise kept him from overthinking. He found himself able to relax if only for a while.

~~*~*~*~*~*~~

Darcy hadn’t even opened her eyes when she realized that she wasn’t alone. It did take her opening her eyes and glancing around to gain her bearings and remember the previous night. She hadn’t planned to end up staying here all night.

She shifted slightly, stretching out the muscles in her neck and moving away from the warm body beside her. She glanced nervously at the man still sleeping slouched on the couch cushions and felt herself flush. It was an unexpected reaction. She had never really thought a great deal about whether or not the Agent was attractive before but looking at him now… Without the jacket and tie, his top few buttons undone and shirt partially untucked, sleeves rolled up…Phil Coulson was definitely attractive under that suit. 

She felt both comfortable and awkward at the same time. She had become somewhat friends with the serious Agent and nothing had crossed that line. Even as they slept slumped against one another, no arms or legs had been wrapped around the other’s. They had simply fallen asleep next to one another; however, now that she had seen the man beneath the suit not just a peek but an actually look…she couldn’t unsee it. Something told her that habouring a crush on Agent Phil Coulson was probably the worst idea she had thought of recently.


	4. Dress

“Look at you all in your suit just like usual.” Darcy grinned, walking up to the familiar Agent in one of his usual suits. She couldn’t help but feel a little thrill when he looked towards her a looked somewhat shocked.

“Look at you not dressed like usual.” He commented. “And I did get a new tie.”

“I guess when you wear suits every day it’s a bit hard to look different for a black tie party.” She conceded as she approached him and greeted him with a friendly hug, careful not to spill her glass as she did so. 

“You look beautiful.” He told her, stepping back to glance down at her formal dress.

“Pepper picked it out, the one I picked out was short.” She grinned.

“I’m sure that was nice also.” He said diplomatically. 

“So Secret Agent Man, long time no see.” She grinned, taking a sip of her drink. “How’s being the big boss going?”

“About as can be expected. I’ve been in the air with my team a lot recently.” He explained. “You know you could call me Phil?”

“Secret Agent man sounds cooler.” She shrugged. “Hey, it’s a step up from Agent iPod thief.” 

“Careful.” He said, tugging her against him and spinning them to one side slightly. Darcy turned her head in confusion as Thor landed on the ground sprawled where she had just been stood. 

“My apologies friends.” He grinned, as he scrambled to his feet. “My Lady Jane was teaching me to dance.”

“If you’re on the floor then it’s not the kind of dancing meant for public viewing.” Darcy quipped, noting that somehow her drink hadn’t even been spilt in the commotion.

“Either that or she’s teaching you wrong.” Phil murmured in amusement, before plucking Darcy’s glass from her hand. “Darcy, would you care to dance?”

“On your head be it.” She told him honestly, placing her hand into his outstretched one.

She couldn’t help feeling a little shy and nervous as he led her around the dancefloor, it felt out of character for her but she was clueless about dancing and really didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of him. Fortunately, he kept the steps simple and slow and after a few fumbles she found herself easily following his lead. 

“Smooth moves Agent.” She grinned.

“See, easier than you thought.” He said.

“This is probably the most ladylike and graceful I’ve been ever. So take a good look because this is as good as it gets.” She told him. The fingers spread out on the hand across her back and she felt her skin tingle at the contact, her hand tightened on his briefly.

“Nearly everyone in this room adores you Darcy, do you really think they care whether you’re in a three hundred dollar dress or in your Captain America pajamas?” he asked her.

“Who told you about my Captain America pajamas?” she frowned.

“Lucky guess.” He smirked.

“I hate Agents.” She muttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone has any particular scenes with these two they'd like to see feel free to drop a comment below with the suggestion and I will try to fill it if I can.


	5. Distraction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a super short peek into Phil Coulson's head on thoughts of Darcy

Phil wasn’t oblivious, not as oblivious as he appeared to be sometimes that is. He had felt the few charged moments at Pepper’s birthday party three weeks ago. He wasn’t blind, Darcy was a beautiful young woman but being so much younger than him, he had never really considered her in that light before, not in anything more than a passing thought. At the party she had lost the casual, young appearance that her clothes usually gave her. It had certainly displayed her figure a little more obviously that he had seen it in anything she had worn around him before. Then of course she had reacted to him in a way he hadn’t expected to see. She looked interested, physically. It was his job to spot these things, the way her body language remained completely open to him, only turning slightly defensive when she got nervous, the way her eyes fixed on him, eying his features. 

They had danced and talked and then parted ways, nothing they did could be considered overtly flirting but it certainly skated the line between that and friendly banter. Darcy was not the person to make a move on, she was too young and free spirited. Even though he had was only just turning forty, he had buried enough friends and lovers in his life to not want to include her in the list. Still, for that night, for a few moments, it had been nice to enough the feeling of being attracted to someone who was attracted in return.

“Your head isn’t on the job today.” May observed from her position across the room.

“Not really no. I think I’m getting old, two weeks on mission and I’m dead on my feet.” He replied.

“Who were you thinking about?” she asked after a moment.

“No one you know, at least I don’t think you know them directly.” He replied. “Does it matter?”

“It does if it’s a distraction.” She shrugged. “You know how it is Phil, you can’t have our job and have distractions.”

“I agree.” He nodded. “Which is why I don’t plan on doing anything about it.”

“Smart, unless not doing anything becomes more distracting than doing something about it.” The woman said with good humour.


	6. Temper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Cate C who requested Captain America getting a talking to

He heard shouting before he even entered the room. He could hear Stark’s voice the most distinctively over the others but that wasn’t unusual.

“You never think Tony, never!” the Captain leaned over the billionaire, looking angrier and more red in the face than Phil had ever seen him.

“Learn to take a joke Cap.” He retorted, pushing the man back a step.

Phil scanned the room as he entered, assessing risks as he always did. Darcy stood close to Dr Banner over the other side of the room, keeping a distance from the two men fighting. There was glass across the floor towards the center of the room. 

“When you put other people’s safety at risk it isn’t a joke!” Steve barked, pushing him back. 

“Bruce is fine Steve; he’s used to Tony by now.” Darcy spoke up, approaching them. “You know what Tony’s like and everything’s fine now.” Phil lunged forward to try and halt her progress as she reached from Steve’s arm. Her words had worked, Steve backed down from Tony but shook Darcy off his arm. Unfortunately, the Captain was very much still at full strength attack mode and his shake knocked Darcy onto her hands and knees. 

Darcy let out a hiss as the glass dug into her skin in places, quickly scrambling to her feet with Bruce’s help. 

“Enough!” Phil shouted, inserting himself between Tony and Steve, his back to Steve. “Tony this will cool down quicker if you leave the room please.”

“You alright Darce?” Tony called.

“I’m fine.” She waved him off, as Bruce helped her brush off the glass. “Bruce’s got it.”

With Tony out of the room, Phil turned to face the Captain who was now staring at Darcy in shock.

“You raised your concerns about Tony’s antics being a danger, about Dr Banner being a risk to other’s and yet the only one to bring harm to anyone in this room was you.” He said bluntly.

“Darcy, I-I’m sorry.” He said, taking a step closer to where the young woman now sat letting Bruce clean off a cut on her hand.

“I forgive you, if you promise never to imply that Bruce is a danger to his friends again.” She replied, not looking up from her hand.

“Oh I am a danger to-”

“Shut up, you are not.” She cut the scientist off, using her free hand to wrack him over the hand.

“No one is perfect Rogers, not even you. We all make mistakes in judgement and we all lose our temper every now and then.” He said seriously. “Try to remember that next time you start a fight amongst your allies.” Phil found himself practically dismissing his childhood hero turned friend as he stepped through the broken glass to reach Darcy, crouching down in front of her. “You alright?”

“It’s just a scratch Secret Agent Man.” She assured him as Bruce secured a band-aid and rolled his chair back away.

“Did any cut through your clothes?” 

“I don’t think so.” She told the scientist. “Thank you.”

“Come on then Miss Lewis.” He said, standing. He couldn’t help but smile as Darcy let out a yelp when he lifted her into his arms and carried her across glass covered floor. “Just in case.” He explained, placing her safely back on the floor at the door. As they walked along the hallway he found himself startled by a giggle erupting from her lips.

“You just told off Captain America.” She laughed as they approached the elevator. 

“I really did.” He agreed with a frown, as the doors closed behind them.

“Hey don’t look upset, it was badass.” She told him. 

“He did hurt you.” He pointed out.

“Not on purpose but…” she trailed off, a smile filled her entire face. “Agent Coulson did you just give Captain America a dressing down for me?”

“I suppose I did.” He looked a little flushed as he admitted that. He watched her carefully as the door opened. She lent up on her tiptoes and firmly pressed her lips to his cheek.

“My hero.” She said, offering him a small wave as she left the elevator.


	7. Worry

“What did you think you were doing?!” 

Darcy turned in surprise, she had never seen Phil Coulson lose his cool like this before. He looked livid and all his anger was aimed straight at her. 

“Do you have any idea how reckless that was?!” he demanded, not stopping until he stood mere feet from her. 

“I was helping!” she said defensively.

“I’m sorry, do you perhaps have some superpowers that I wasn’t aware of?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Or perhaps some combat training?”

“Obviously I’m not-”

“What about any weapons training? A gun license? Anything?” he continued. By this point she just folded her arms across her chest and waited for him to finish. “No, I didn’t think so.”

“Clint nearly died.” She said seriously. “Literally about to be shot in the back, so I shot first.”

“You ran into a combat zone.” He countered. “You could’ve made things worse, you could’ve ended up being shot yourself.”

“But I didn’t.” she pointed out. “I grabbed a gun and I shot one bad guy and I would do it again.”

“Like hell you will!” he roared.

“I am not going to stand at the sidelines and watch my friends get shot in the back!” she snapped.

“You won’t be getting anyway near the sidelines again!” he stepped closer, gripping her arm to tug her away from the aftermath.

“What the hell Phil?! You do shit like this all the time, the whole team does! You can’t just order me away and make demands, you aren’t my father!” she shouted, shoving at him and prying her arm free.

Breath left her lungs as her back hit a wall. Darcy found herself staring up at the Agent pinning her there and found herself unable to move. She couldn’t think of a thing to say or do in that moment.

“You think I don’t know that?” he asked quietly. “You aren’t that naïve and you aren’t that stupid so don’t even attempt to pull that card with me.” One of his hands reached out, stroking against her cheek and jaw, his fingers lightly dipping into the strands of her hair. “You are the single most distracting thing in my life and you just…” She watched as the anger seemed to drain out of him.

“Phil?” she called quietly. Immediately his tense stance dropped and he pulled her against him, hugging her to him tightly against his chest.

“I’m sorry.” He sighed. “I shouldn’t have lost my temper.”

“You were worried about me.” She said quietly. She had sort of realized that that was why he was angry when he had first started yelling but it hadn’t really sunk it. Agent Phil Coulson had completely lost it…over her. “It’s OK to be worried.”

“Promise me you won’t do that again.” He said, releasing her.

“You know I won’t do that.” She told him, reaching her hands up to his face. “You know this is how I feel whenever you and the team are on missions right?”

“You’re allowed to worry; you’re allowed to be distracted. I’m not.” He replied. “I’m supposed to keep my cool and be in control the entire time.”

“If you did, you wouldn’t be human.” She told him, tugging at the short hairs at the back of his head, drawing his face closer to hers before the moment was lost and she chickened out. “I’m sorry I made you worry.” She told him, pressing her lips to his softly. 

It was brief, soft and careful, the complete opposite to their actions only minutes previously. Her whole body seemed to sigh in contentment when she felt his lips ghosting over hers in a gentle response. Mere seconds but it felt longer, for a few heartbeats time froze as they shared a moment together. As they separated she could see his walls going back up, his armour piecing back together, as his Agent persona once again stood in control.

“You’ll need to be debriefed.” He told her carefully. “If you could report to Agent May?”

“Alright.” She croaked out. Internally she was wondering why he wasn’t doing her brief. There were two main options. Option A: he now couldn’t debrief her because it would be a conflict of interest now that they had obviously crossed that line they had been dancing around. Option B: it was a conflict of interest and he was now going to avoid her.


	8. Self Doubt

Darcy clenched her fist around the folder in her hand and prayed for the strength not to hit the man in front of her with it. 

“It’s just one form, one little form and then I’m gone, I don’t have the energy to bribe or trick you into it today.” She sighed.

“Not even a bit of banter, not so much as a ‘Hi Tony, how you doing? I love living under your roof Tony, you’re the best’.” He continued, leaning over the device her was fiddling with. “Just a little shout out, a little love would do.”

“You know what, don’t bother; when I get sacked and you get a new person chasing you with forms, you’ll know whose fault it was.” She told him, dropping the folder on his desk and turning to leave.

“Jarvis seal the lab.” 

Darcy closed her eyes as the glass doors slid front just in front of her. She dropped her forehead forward to bang against the cold glass and growled under her breath.

“You’re never too busy to sass me, speak short stacked.” Tony said, approaching her while wiping his hands on a cloth.

“I really don’t want to.” She replied, turning to face him. “I could call Pepper for the override.”

“I’m serious here Darce, why the dramatics?” he asked. 

“It’s nothing major, just girl stuff.” She told him evasively, with any luck he’d think she was referring to her period and back off.

“That was two weeks ago try again.” He retorted.

“It is disgusting and creepy that you know that.” She said bluntly, reconsidering her earlier impulse to hit him with the folder.

“Jarvis knows all.” He shrugged. “It wasn’t a deliberate invasion of privacy if that makes you feel any better.”

“Oh yeah, tons better.” She muttered sarcastically.

“Truth!” he insisted. “When you got snappy about the blender I asked Jarvis what your problem was and he told me.”

“I believe you, I just don’t care.” She sighed. “Not the problem I meant anyway, can I go now?”

“So this is about your love life.” He nodded. “Tell Uncle Tony all about it. If a guy hurt you I can have him taken care of.”

“Not this guy you couldn’t.” she smirked. “Look, it’s really not a big deal. I thought he was into me, turns out he isn’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because I kissed him and he’s barely said two words to me since.” She explained decided that by this point she may as well just blurt out nearly everything. “Kind of a clear indicator that I’m not his type.”

“Could he be into men?” Tony asked seriously. 

“It’s possible but I doubt it, my knowledge so far suggests that he’s straight.” She shrugged. “Maybe he just doesn’t think of me that way.”

“Impossible, you’re gorgeous.” Tony said bluntly, eying her up and down thoughtfully. “He’s not intimidated by intelligence and power is he?”

“Not really.” She answered with a small smile, by this point it was sort of sweet how Tony Stark was willing to defend her honour.

“Wait…do I know this guy?” he asked suspiciously. 

“I believe you may have crossed paths but you cross paths with a lot of people so, who’s to say which ones you actually know and don’t?” 

“Darcy…this guy, are you absolutely sure he isn’t interested?” he asked, taking the folder from her hand and flicking through the papers to find the form she had wanted him to sign.

“Not absolutely, just pretty sure.” 

“What I think, is that in our circle…there’s a lot of secrets, safety issues and…there’s a whole load of reasons not to be with someone even if you want to.” He pointed out, not   
looking up from the paperwork. “I think if you’re sure that this guy is worth it, don’t give up and maybe he’ll decide that you’re worth the risk too.”

“Sometimes you’re pretty sweet for a jackass.” She told him, hugging him as she took the folder back.


	9. Stupidity

“So I’m going to go ahead and call you stupid.” Darcy said bluntly, closing the door behind her. “Interesting office, nicer than the one at headquarters.” She glanced around at the various trinkets he had on the shelves, it was still a nice office for an office on a plane.

“How did you get here?” he asked.

“I called in some favours.” She shrugged, taking a seat in front of him. “Apparently you got stabbed two weeks ago and I had to hear about it from Steve.”

“It wasn’t a serious incident; I wasn’t aware you required knowledge of the results of all my missions.” He said coolly.

“Bullshit.” She snorted. “You’re acting like a child Phil so cut the crap.”

“I’m trying to-”

“Oh I know perfectly well what you’re trying to do you moron!” she snapped. “Seriously, we aren’t thirteen here. We were friends and I kissed you, if you only want to be friends then man up and say so. I’m not going to go hang myself over a guy, not even you. Stupidly though, instead of just being straight with me and saying ‘Sorry Darcy, you’re great but I don’t think we should see each other’, you avoid me wherever possible and when you do speak to me you revert back to Miss Lewis this and Miss Lewis that.”

“Are you done?” he asked, leaning back in his chair.

“Not really but I’d probably better stop while I’m ahead.” She conceded. 

“I didn’t handle it well.” He admitted, holding up a hand to stop her retort before she could finish opening her mouth. “When it comes to you there is no handbook or rulebook that does me any good, I’m at a loss.”

“Relationships don’t fit well into neat little boxes.” 

“No they don’t.” he agreed. “I knew better than to act the way I did, I’m sorry.”

“Good,” she nodded. “So can we go back to Darcy and Secret Agent Man now?”

“What happened to Phil?” he wrinkled his brow in confusion.

“That too.”

“Am I forgiven?”

“I had Tony Stark trying to cheer me up, it will be a while until you are forgiven.” She told him, leaning over and patting him on the hand patronizingly. 

“Do I even want to know?” he frowned.

“He knows there was a guy, I didn’t tell him who.” Darcy replied, feeling uncomfortable admitted that she had been upset enough over the whole thing that Tony Stark had noticed.

“I do care about you Darcy, you do know that don’t you?” he asked quietly.

“I thought I did, then I wasn’t sure.” She bit her lip, his eyes followed the movement.

“Whether or not anything ever comes of it, you will always matter to me Darcy.” He said honestly. “Don’t doubt that again.”

Darcy opened her mouth to reply but a knock at the door made her pause. A familiar head popped around the door.

“Sorry Darcy, the others are on their way back.” Skye apologized.

“I was unaware that you two were acquainted.” Phil raised an eyebrow.

“A couple of years ago she used to slip me cupcakes from the diner she worked at. Not just me either, several of the other kids on the streets, kind of like a big sister to us all.” Skye explained.

“And that’s my cue to exit.” Darcy squeaked out, “Making a dart for the door. If you blab about anything you shouldn’t I will do the same to you, got it?” She said lowly as she passed her friend.

“I wouldn’t dare.” Skye grinned, waving as Darcy left. She turned and grinned at her boss. “You are so screwed.”

“I really don’t know what you mean.” He replied calmly.

“I’ve never seen you look as relaxed as you do right now, if I didn’t know you better I’d think you got lucky.” She smirked. “Which means, you really really like her.”

“You do know I could send you to a Shield outpost in the artic?”

“Right.” She nodded. “Shutting up now.”


	10. Lola

Darcy's heels clicked across the hard floor as she approached the parked plane. She refused to call it a bus, a bus was a bus, a plane was a plane. Mack, an Agent she had only met a handful of times, led the way, escorting her to find Skye. She had a bunch of files that Stark wanted Skye’s opinion on. It really was a testimony to how skilled the younger girl was when Tony Stark wanted her opinion. Not that he couldn't figure it out himself, he probably could but he was busy building something particular at the moment and had asked if the young hacker could get a start on things for him. 

“Wow…whose is the hot corvette?” Darcy said, following Mack up the ramp.    
   
“Coulson’s.” Mack commented. “He’s very fond of it.” She couldn't blame anyone for being fond of it. It was beautiful. The was just a craftsmanship to older cars that was almost like artwork, the lines and curves of the bodywork over old fashioned mechanics. The kind of mechanics Darcy's father had loved, as opposed to the kind that was all dictated by electronic diagnostics on modern cars.  
   
“Those buttons on the dash aren't standard.” She frowned. Her eyes brightened suddenly. “Is this a super spy car?” She excitedly leant carefully over the side to inspect the interior and dash before pulling back and dropping to the floor.  

“What are you doing?” Mack frowned.

“What kind of suspension system is this?!” She gaped in confusion and excitement as she eyed what looked like a flamethrower under the front half of the car. “What the fuck? That could be dangerous…” 

“I didn't know you were so into cars.”  

“Well…I'm not an expert or anything but my dad was a mechanic so I just sorta picked up some things. I've got an 87 corvette myself…it's nothing like this though, most of the time I'm amazed mine still runs. This…this is immaculate.” She glanced up when the car shifted, finding another agent that she had met at least once but couldn't remember the name of leant against it. “Dude have a little respect for that paintwork is probably older than you are!” 

“Wow.” He mouthed looking at her like she was insane. He rolled his eyes and stepped away from the car with his hands up.

“Seriously, this looks like it has had the full restoration job plus…whatever else Shield has stuck under that hood. A car like this…even getting a smeary finger print on it is a crime.” 

“Stark. Howard Stark that is, did the modifications on it. Something Coulson’s father requested a long time ago, before Coulson had it anyway.” Mack explained. “Don't know a huge amount else about it. He doesn't let me work on it.” 

“So who works on it?”  
    
“Coulson.” 

~*~*~*~

Hunter passed Phil and Skye in the elevator. “That girl’s got some balls huh?” He said, nodding towards Darcy talking to Mack enthusiastically about something. 

“What makes you say that?” Phil raised a brow, knowing it was true but curious what she had done to make such an impression in only minutes.  

“Gave me a lecture about paintwork on that damn car of yours.” Skye looked like she was about to burst out laughing but said nothing as she saw her Boss's eyebrow twitch. It could be amusement but it could also be irritation, she could never be sure with Coulson. 

“Did you touch it?” He asked. 

“Don't panic Skye’s friend gave me the lecture already.” Hunter said, narrowing his gaze at the young woman. "Why did you get her involved with our team again?"

"Hey don't look at me, she was working for Foster and Stark before she knew I was Shield." Skye pointed out.

“Think she’d probably love a ride in your precious Lola boss.” The younger man wriggled his eyebrows as the elevator door closed. Leaving Phil pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration as they headed down.

"You know...he's probably right." Skye commented, quickly stepping off of the elevator as the doors opened.  
 


	11. and repeat

"Long time no see."   

Phil turned to find a familiar dark haired woman stood behind him. "Things have been a little busy lately."  

"And on your day off you decided to party?" She grinned, reaching over to grab a glass of wine from the table next to him. 

"Well...it's not every day you get invited to Captain America's birthday."   

"I'm pretty sure the invitation said Steve." She pointed out. "He was pretty specific about that."  

"So it did." He nodded. "You two seem to be getting along."   

"It turns out that once you realise that he can't talk to anyone with breasts without stuttering, he's not so scary."  

"I don't think Captain America was ever supposed to be scary." Phil chuckled, that action had Natasha raising an eyebrow at him from across the room. He caught her stare from the corner of his eye and knew nothing on earth would convince the redhead that he didn't have a soft spot for Darcy after today. 

"Intimidating? Larger than life?" Darcy continued, having not noticed the exchange at all. 

"He's pretty large." He conceded. 

"Anyway after teasing him relentlessly, I introduced him to instagram and Netflix. Now we're bros." her nose wrinkled as the music changed. "Although his taste in music still has a long way to go. Not that the classics are bad just...mix it up a little you know? I'm going to have to get him an iPod...and many many playlists. Should I gradually bring them up to date or just dive right in do you think?"  

Darcy jumped as his hand snaked out and tugged her two steps closer to him as Sam stumbled backwards towards where she had been stood.  

"I feel like we've been here before." He commented. At that she laughed, her face lighting up in delight, before she slide her arm out of his grasp and her hand down to his.   

"Well then, how about we go and dance?" She suggested tugging his hand. "Make it a proper case of déjà vu?"   

"No one else is dancing." He gestured at the rest of the team and their friends milling around the open plan room.   

"Don't tell me you're shy Phil," she grinned, towing him along behind her to an empty spot of floor. "That's adorable." Despite his initial protest he allowed her to pull him into a dancing position and proceeded to lead her in a simple waltz to the beat of the music.   

"Your dancing skills have improved." He commented, noting how she confidently followed his lead.    
    
"Steve and I have been having lessons." She explained. "He said he was never very good at dancing and...that sometimes all it took was the right partner. It was super sad and depressing."   

"I'm glad he's moving on." Phil nodded, before feeling a little awkward. "With his life I mean."  

"Yeah well, I told him maybe I wasn't the perfect partner for him but that maybe we could just practice together so that next time the right partner comes along maybe we'd both be a little better at it. Now hopefully he won't be afraid to ask the next miss right to dance."  

"And you?" He couldn't help but asked. She bit her lip and appeared to think for a moment before answering him. 

"I'm not expecting my happy ending any time soon. I figure I'm pretty happy where I'm at, my life is good...so there's no rush for Prince Charming to sweep me off of my feet at the moment. I can wait." She shrugged.   

He found himself holing her a little closer as her words sunk in. Perhaps he was reading too far into it but it sounded like she was telling him something. Could she possibly be telling him that she was willing to wait for him? Not that he really wanted her to waste her life waiting around for him...that wasn't what he wanted...but she had said she was happy...  

"You look happy." He said quietly.  

"I am happy." She replied honestly. "If the only thing missing in my life is a guy, then I think I'm doing pretty alright."   

"I think you're doing more than alright." He chuckled. "Rumour is you turn down job offers on a daily basis."  

"Ha!" She snorted. "I turned down a few job offers, only two of those were on consecutive days."  

"Look," he mouthed, eying something to her left. Darcy turned just in time to see Steve leading a blonde towards their part of the floor and begin to dance.   

"Oh my god I feel so proud, it's like my little ducking is becoming a swan." She beamed.   

"I bet you never thought you'd be referring to Captain America as your little duckling." He murmured, continuing to move them gracefully about, dodging the multiple couples that had apparently followed their lead and begun to dance.  

"I know, my life is awesome." She smirked. "He didn't even run away when he found out about my hoarded Captain America paraphernalia. Though he did look a little embarrassed...not as embarrassed as me mind you but he signed my trading card so I consider that a win."  

"And you didn't even have to die."  

"No...I didn't." She agreed quietly, his joke falling slightly flat as she squeezed his hand a little tighter. She swallowed her emotions for his sake and looked back up at him. "He must like me better."  

"Probably something to do with you being a pretty girl." He agreed, moving them away from the dancing couples and back to the side of the room.  

"Well the girls do usually get me whatever I want." She grinned, glancing down at her chest and giving a slight wiggle as if they weren't obvious already. She needn't have bothered, he wasn't blind.   

"Whatever you want?" He raised an eyebrow.  

"Well...OK people don't just hand me tons of money or anything and there does seem to be a few people less susceptible to my charms but hey we can't all have everything." She shrugged. She breath caught as his hand reached up and brushed her cheek.  

"I think your mistake is thinking that they're you're biggest charm." He commented quietly, before ducking his head and dismissing himself. She watched his back long after he left her and moved on talking to other guests.     
 


	12. Natasha

     
"Whoa! Holy shit!" Darcy blurted out, pressing her hand to her now pounding chest. "Wear a bell!"  

"That's not the first time I've heard that." The older woman commented calmly. "Also I've been here for seventeen minutes."  

"So like...you don't have anything better to do than watch me type up notes?" She frowned. "Or...did you need something?"  

"You have no awareness of your surroundings at all." The red head spoke, looking her dead in the eye. Darcy blinked, feeling a bit intimidated. She didn't really know the Black Widow that well and had never been in a one on one situation with her before. "You should move your work station over there, with your back to the door I could've killed you from down the hall."  

"So are you planning on killing me? I mean I assume you're not since you clearly could've already done it by now."   

"I don't have any plans on killing you." She replied with a shrug. "I just wanted to get to know you a bit better."  

"Right...so like..." Darcy tried and then gave up, flinging her hands out to the side in surrender. "Yeah no, I can't picture you doing the girly chit chat shit and I've never really been one for girly crap either so I really don't know what you want."  

"You're Clint's friend."   

"And that bothers you?" Darcy raised an eyebrow. "Somehow I doubt you're bothered by Clint eating junk food and watching Netflix on my couch a couple of times a month."  

"You're important to Phil."  

"He's my friend too." Darcy frowned again. "Worried I'm stealing all your friends? Or do you think I'm some sort of really shit undercover Hydra plant?"  

"Neither. I think you're a disaster waiting to happen." Natasha said bluntly. "The team care about you, that's fine. Coulson care's more. He's let you get under his skin and that makes you a weak link."  

"Gee thanks." She sighed. "I wouldn't worry, there's nothing going on between Phil and I."  

"You think because you're not fucking there's nothing going on?" Darcy's jaw dropped at that one as the red head pushed away from the wall and approached her. "You think because neither of you will actually admit it or do anything about it then no one will notice? Let me tell you Miss Lewis that anyone who knows Phil Coulson can spot how he feels for you a mile away and since you're not exactly indifferent to him, then something is sure as hell going on."  

"Oh I'm supposed to apologise for having feelings now?! Feelings that I'm not even doing anything about?!"  

"You're not a trained Agent, you're not enhanced and you have no weapons nor weapons training. Being linked to the Avengers will get you killed if your own obliviousness for your surroundings doesn't result in you being hit by a car or bus first." She carried on without even acknowledging Darcy's question. "We've all lost people, the older you get the more you lose. Coulson's lost a lot and one more loss of someone he loves will be the end of him."  

Darcy was laughing before she could even think to hold it in. Maybe it was the adrenaline from having the Black Widow intimidating the crap out of her, maybe it was just the way Natasha Romanoff seemed to have overlooked something so obvious. Maybe it was both. Maybe she was just insane or had a death wish.   

"You seriously think that applies to me?" She laughed loudly. "You think I'm the only person Phil cares about?! Seriously if you died or Clint or Skye, it would kill him. He may care about all his Agents and be a great boss but you three...you three are his babies, his strays." By this point her voice was bordering on hysterical and loud. Instead of laughter, it was now anger causing her limbs to shake. "Considering the shit that you guys do, I'm betting you're just as likely to die as I am and it would hurt him just as much. You know what, it might even hurt more because me? I'm the maybe, I'm the what if. If I died tomorrow he'd probably wonder if I could've been that one for him. You, you're like one of his children and part of him would die with you. So you know what Agent Romanoff, I used to think you were awesome. You were a badass woman who could kick ass and still be beautiful and womanly and sexy. Now, now you're just some bitch who thought she had the right to scare the shit out of a woman with as you pointed out, no training, no enhancements and no weapons for being in love with someone who doesn't want a relationship. So congratulations, you scared the crap out of me, you must be thrilled. Now either kill me or get the fuck out."  

"Very well." Natasha commented coolly, slinking back towards the exit as if Darcy hadn't just lost her shit and hurled insults at the top of her lungs. In fact Darcy was pretty sure her verbal attack had just rolled off of the older woman's back as insignificantly as a single rain drop. That about summed up Darcy's opinion of herself if she were honest. Insignificant. She was the one behind the scenes, doing what she could and yes the team...well most of the team anyway, liked her. Still, she was just one woman. One woman who was not an Agent, not a genius or a business woman, not enhanced or dangerous or even that interesting. She was replaceable. So why was the Black Widow taking the time to give her a lecture in how breakable she was in the first place?  

Whatever the reason, it worked. Even after speaking her own piece, Darcy didn't feel brave or righteous, she felt like she was about to throw up.   
 


	13. Chapter 13

"I'm sorry I don’t think I heard you correctly." Clint gaped at his partner. 

"Try being a bit louder." Natasha murmured in amusement, glancing down from their station to check for any signs of movement. They just had to wait until the right moment, this part of a mission was always the worst. "Do you see yourself retiring one day?"  

"Wait what? Back up, first you announce out of the blue, that you like Darcy and now you're asking about my retirement plans?" He blinked in confusion. 

"Would you rather sit in silence?" She offered. 

"Alright." He conceded. "Yeah, I'll probably retire at some point. Once this beautiful body starts to slow down on me and stop taking the hits as well as I'd like, then I guess it'll be time to retire. Wanna see my kids grow up and all." 

"That's what I thought." She nodded. "I don't have anyone to retire for." 

"The kids would be heartbroken if anything happened to you." He replied honestly. "Laura too." 

"I know but..." 

"They're not yours." He nodded understandingly. "So what exactly does this have to do with Darcy?" 

"Who said it had anything to do with Lewis?"  

"You're not one for idol chat Nat." He sighed, glancing at his watch to check the time again. "Out with it." 

"Do you think Phil should retire?" She asked eventually. 

"You think he and Darcy are that serious?" He raised an eyebrow in surprise. "He turned her down you know?" 

"I did know that but I also have eyes."  

"Yeah...he's definitely got a thing for her." He agreed. "He's had women in his life before." 

"Not like Darcy Lewis."  

"Yeah it's probably a good thing for all people concerned that there is only one Darcy Lewis." Clint chuckled quietly. "Phil isn't on active duty as much as he used to be, he's leads from behind the scenes a bit more now. I think he knows his body can't take the punishment it used to, his reflexes aren't as fast. He's not stupid, he'll have noticed those things and he'll continue to notice them. Now he's director he could come out of the field altogether." 

"But now that Shield is a tiny fraction of what it was?" She asked. "And Darcy she's...she's practically a civilian stuck in the middle of ground zero." 

"You think she's one more person that'll get hurt on our watch." He nodded understanding. 

"She's got all of the guts and heart and none of the training. I think she'd walk straight into an ongoing battle to save a stranger on the street and not give a damn about her own safety. She reminds me of Steve but with none of the training and none of the strength." She sighed. 

"Then train her."  

"I don't think she's going to appreciate me getting near her anytime soon." Natasha smirked, shifting her position as she noticed the guards below moving to change their stations. Show time. 

"What did you do?" Clint hissed, following after her. 

~~~ 

Three days later 

~~~ 

"Agent Romanoff? A word before you go?" Coulson spoke clearly as she and Clint made to leave. 

"Who tattled on me?" She sighed. 

"No one, but from the conversation you and Agent Barton had a few days ago that was all monitored on the coms, it leads me to believe there is a situation you have concerns about." He explained. 

"You heard the conversation, you know my concerns." She shrugged.  

"And be reassured your concerns for my retirement plans are noted." He murmured, his lips twitching in amusement before setting into a frown. "and I understand your concerns about Miss Lewis being linked to so many persons of interest." 

"It has been pointed out to me that I have no right to interfere in your personal life unless it is going to directly affect me in some way."  

"Also appreciated." He nodded. "The idea of offering Miss Lewis some training is not a bad one, I'd like you to discuss it with her." Natasha wasn't stupid, Phil wanted to know what had happened between her and Darcy and was playing a stupid cat and mouse game to find out. 

"I might have approached her and pointed out how much danger she was putting herself in." She told him bluntly. "None of what I said wasn't true." 

"I presume it also wasn't said politely or nicely?" He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

"Not precisely." She agreed.  

"I stand by what I said, I want you to discuss her having some training. Make it clear to her that if she is truly uncomfortable having any training with you, that we have several other Agents that we could arrange to assist in some basic training." He said firmly.  

"Understood." She nodded, turning to leave and hovering by the door. "Aren't you curious to know how she reacted?" 

"To your interrogation techniques?" He frowned. "Do I even want to know?" 

"Oh she was scared shitless obviously, but she also very loudly added her opinion on the matter before telling me to 'get the fuck' out of her lab." She smirked. "That's the woman you're going to marry Phil, if neither of you end up dead first." 

"Goodbye Natasha." Phil ground out as she the woman slinked from his office. Phil sighed and closed the folder in front of him. He wasn't going to get anything done now. The people he worked with were trained to see things most people didn't, May had known there was someone before she'd even known a thing about Darcy. Everyone knew how he felt about the younger woman by now. Well, except possibly Darcy, though he hoped she at least had an idea. By this point, doing nothing about it wasn't going to help him.  

Darcy got herself in dangerous situations without him anyway and now that he wasn't always on active duty... If it were obvious to everyone anyway then he may as well just bite the bullet and enjoy whatever amount of happiness he could in whatever years he had left. Did Darcy deserve better than an old, scarred and slightly jaded man such as him? Of course she did, but for some reason it would appear that she wanted him anyway. Perhaps it was time to do something about it.   
 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK so I think there's only a couple of chapters left on this one but since this is sort of a story made of connected shorts who knows if I might add more in future. I have plans for 3 more chapters at the moment which will all have actual darcy/phil interaction unlike the last two chapters and also some big steps.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry, been a delay on this one. I only have about 3-5 chapters left for this depending on how they come out when I write them

   
Darcy spotted a flash of red out of the corner of her eye and glanced to her right. Sure enough, Natasha Romanoff sat elegantly in one of the chairs in the waiting area, flicking through a newspaper, one that she seriously doubted the agent was actually reading. Deciding that no good could possibly come of another run in with the older woman, she turned swiftly on her heel and doubled straight back out of the building.  

The green across the road from the building wouldn't be far enough to be out of sight but there was a small park three blocks over that had plenty of trees to hide behind. She could sit and drink her coffee and waste some time checking emails and browes tumblr, hopefully Romanoff either wasn't there to see her or if she was she would give up waiting. 

She made it one block before freezing and rolling her eyes. 

"How long were you planning on following me?" She asked without turning around. 

"Interesting, I thought it would take you longer to notice me following you."  

"Well, I'm not going to take that as a compliment considering you aren't even being discrete about it." She turned to face the woman stood almost directly behind her.  

"If I didn't want to be seen, I wouldn't be." The red head shrugged. "If you had stayed I wouldn't have followed you." 

"Or you could have taken the hint that I didn't want to talk to you." She felt the urge to fold her arms across her front but didn't know what to do with her coffee cup. 

"I'm here at Coulson's request."  

"Did he order you to apologise and make nice?" 

"No. He asked me to train you in self-defence."  

"I don't even know what to say to that." Darcy blinked.  

"I don't have to be the Agent that trains you, although you will have at least one session with me."  

"It is too late in the day for this." Darcy sighed. "I am agreeing to nothing until I speak to Secret Agent Man about this." With that she dumped her now cold coffee in the nearest trash can and headed back towards the tower without a goodbye to the Black Widow. She lifted her phone to her ear before she got inside the building. "Jarvis buddy, find out where Agent Coulson is and get me a flight there before my anger disappears." 

"Of course Miss Lewis." The familiar voice replied. "I'll send the details to your phone when they're ready." 

 

~*~*~*~*~ 

 

The following day saw Darcy stepping off of a jet at a SHIELD hanger in Canada, even more angry than when she had boarded. Jarvis had booked her the jet for first thing in the morning but she had spent most of the night trying to plan what she was going to say. She had come up with plenty of ideas but now that she was tired, as well as angry and any smart things she had to say had flown out of her brain. 

"Hey Ipod thief!" She called, approaching the Agents stood in the hangar.  

"What did you do?" Skye asked Coulson.  

"Aren't you late for your session with May?" He countered bluntly.  

"Fine, butting out." The younger girl raised her hands in surrender and backed away. "Good luck with that." 

"You requested that crazy bitch as a personal trainer for me?!" She demanded. 

"Around this lot you might have to be more specific." Hunter commented as he passed them. 

"Butt out." She told him.  

"You don't think self-defence training is a good idea?" Phil asked her calmly. 

"I don't think it's necessary!"  

"In this past year alone you have been shot and shot someone else."  

"And I'm still here, so I think I'm doing pretty good so far." She shrugged. "Now, I don't know why you think you can order me into any kind of training at all, let alone anything involving that scary-ass, spy assassin! You don't pay my cheques, you aren't my boss!" 

"No, I'm not." He agreed. "I didn't order you do to anything, I asked Natasha to approach you about training. I want you to get some training, but I can't make you." Darcy felt the anger deflate out of her at the anti-climatic response.  

"That woman hates me, there is no way doing anything at all in the same vicinity as her is a good idea."  

"Natasha doesn't hate anyone. She doesn't particularly like anyone either but she doesn't hate you." He assured her. Darcy felt her chest tighten slightly at the intent look he was giving her. Any minute now she was going to say something stupid and make an idiot of herself...she tried to ignore overthinking anything that he did or said. "You don't have to train with Natasha, although I didn't ask Natasha to approach you for only your benefit. I also wanted her to spend more time with you." 

"I'm assuming you already know about the incident in my lab, so I really can't see why you would think that was a good idea."  

"Natasha only sees practical decisions. She doesn't get emotionally involved in anything very often. I'm not sure if she realised until after she first visited you, that her motivation for doing so were for emotional reasons." He told her. 

"Oh I think she realised after."  

"I am curious what you said to her." 

"I just pointed out that instead of being worried about me, maybe she should notice how much you care about her and Clint and Skye."  He nodded and moved to take a seat on one of the containers against the wall. She followed, but didn't sit. 

"As you so recently pointed out, I am human, I can't just never care." 

"You care all the time." She told him quietly. "You care for everyone." 

"I care about you, which is why I want you to at least have some basic training."  

"See, now if you'd have just called and said that...that might have worked." She nudged his shoulder playfully. 

"So you'll let Natasha train you?" He asked. 

"Fuck no." She snorted. "Send someone else."


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry, super short filler that probably could have been added onto the previous chapter now that I've thought about it but I wrote this early this morning so thought i'd post it quick as the next chapter has some major events happening and a tony stark cameo too

Two months of training hadn't done much for Darcy yet, she wasn't much fitter than she was before, she wasn't faster and her body hadn't magically developed abs or buns of steel. She was however a bit smarter. She knew the best places to aim for whether she was grabbed from the front or back. She knew some of the most easy and painful places to hit someone to escape. She knew how it felt to be tossed and pinned over and over again. So, at the very least if she was attacked, her reaction time would be better since it wouldn't be anything new. 

Her head dropped back against the mat as she let out a winded breath. The man above her laughed aloud and offered her a hand to pull her back to her feet. 

"You are enjoying this far too much." Darcy told him, as he handed her his bottle of water.  

"Yeah, like you didn't enjoy kicking me in the nuts." He muttered. 

"You said do anything I could to get away from you without using a weapon." She pointed out. 

"So I did, and that's good. We aren't trying to teach you to fight, we're teaching you to get away." He said patting her on the shoulder.  

"Yeah ,yeah, my main objectives are escape and run." She recited, rolling her eyes. "What if I want to kick some bad guy ass for trying to pick on a woman?" 

"You're not there yet." He shook his head.  

"I hate you."  

"You love me." He grinned. She grinned back, he was right, she didn't really hate him. Maybe love was a bit strong but he was definitely one of her favourite people to hang around with even though he wasn't in New York often. 

Their friendship had started when he had been passed out on the couch in the communal area and woken up to the smell of Darcy's freshly made pancakes. She'd fed him and that had been all it had taken to win over the archer. To be honest, most of the times that she saw him it was hard to even picture him as an Agent or an Avenger. He was just Clint, her friend that came and ate junk food and make jokes and watched Netflix marathons. So, him training her was actually very strange for her. He was actually pretty hot when he was all action and in tactical gear, instead of passed out with drool and pizza cheese on his face.  

"So, you were saying you won't be here next week?" She asked, as they left the gym. 

"Yeah, I'm heading out on a mission, two weeks out maybe three." He nodded.  

"I'll just do some basic work out or something while you're gone." She told him, before noticing the look on his face. "No." 

"You've got to see her again sometime." 

"No I don’t." She protested. "I seriously think it's just best for everyone if we avoid one another indefinitely." 

"She's important to Coulson." He pointed out. She sighed, her eyes closing as she cursed whatever deity was in charge of her fate. 

"Does everyone know that I have a thing for him?" She asked quietly, refusing to open her eyes. 

"No. Only the people close to him, most of the people in this tower seem to be in the dark. Impressive keeping that under wraps by the way." He commented.  

"Yeah, well, we're just friends so..." 

"No, you and I, are just friends." He snorted. 

"Regardless of how I feel and regardless of whether or not he's ever considered it," she said seriously. "Nothing has happened, and nothing will ever happen. He's got far too many people to look out for already." 

"You...you've really given up on him, haven't you?" Clint blinked in surprise. 

"I haven't given up on him. I've given up on expecting more than he can give. He's awesome, I can carry on caring about him and being in his life just as we are. Why upset either of us by trying to push for something that will probably be a huge disaster."  

When Clint's reply was to put an arm around her and change the subject without pause, Darcy knew. He had seen it. He knew. She was in love with Phil Coulson and she would take him however he came and do whatever it took to have him in her live and happy, even if it meant him never loving her.    
   
 


	16. Chapter 16

   
Darcy had started to pack up for the day when the beeping filled her office. She lifted her phone with a sigh, so much for trying to get out early today.  

“Darcy?” A voice called on the other end. 

“Yes? Who is this?” 

“It's Skye.” Her heart leapt into her throat, why was Skye calling her out of the blue? 

“Skye? Are you alright?” She asked, noting that the younger girl definitely didn't sound alright. 

“I'm fine, mostly fine anyway, it's AC he's…I think he's having some sort of break.” the other girl sounded like she was trying to be quiet but there was an urgency in her voice that worried Darcy, a lot. 

“Where are you?” 

“At the hanger in Alaska.”  

“I'm on my way, don't go anywhere without contacting me.” with that she hung up the phone and grabbed her bag. 

“Jarvis, get me a access to the jet or the chopper or something.” Darcy requested. "Not in the morning, not in an hour, now." 

"Miss Lewis, I'm afraid immediate access isn't possible without an Avenger level authorisation." The A.I. replied. 

"Then get it. I need to be in Alaska now." She insisted. She grabbed a tote bag from her cupboard and tugged her clothes off before pulling on a pair of jeans and sweater. The most important part being the swap from her office heels to her sneakers.   

“Hey Lewis, what's this about an immediate flight plan request?” Starks voice came from her phone as she grabbed her jacket and bag. “You know that's not how things work.” 

“It is for you guys when you need to suddenly go somewhere. I need to get to the Shield hanger in Alaska. It's Phil.” She said, her voice broke a little on her last words causing silence from the other end. 

“It's Phil as in…” Stark trailed off as he obviously put the pieces together. “The guy is Phil?!” 

“Not the time.” Darcy snapped. “Can you get me there or not?” 

“Jarvis prep the quinjet.” Stark agreed. “I’ll meet you up there Darce.” 

“You don't need to come.” 

“Can you fly a jet?” he asked pointedly. 

“No.” she conceded, stepping into the elevator. 

True to his word, Tony Stark was already inside the open jet when she reached the roof. She was onboard and strapped in before she even registered doing it. She was grateful that Tony said nothing else until they were in the air. 

"How fast can this thing get us there?" She asked, unable to take the thoughts inside her own head any longer. 

"Four hours, maybe three if the skies are clear enough to really push it." He replied. She sighed impatiently. "It's a hell of a lot less than the seven hours it'd take to go commercial Darce." 

"I know, thanks." She nodded. "Jarvis, any word from Skye?" 

"Nothing new I'm afraid Miss Lewis." 

"Thanks." She slumped back in her seat, dreading the next few hours. 

"What happened?" Tony asked after a moment. 

"I'm not sure. Skye called, she said she thinks there's something wrong with him, some kind of mental breakdown or something? I don't know." She closed her eyes and willed herself not to cry. She tried to tell herself that this was nothing, she'd get there and Phil would be fine by then, back to his usual self. 

"So, you and Agent. How did that happen?" He asked, flicking the autopilot on until the radar flagged any other air traffic. He turned to face the brunette behind him. 

"I'm not even sure." She laughed, brushing the unshed tears away from her eyes. "You I guess." She remembered that first morning that she had discovered that he was in fact alive. "He made me jump, in the kitchen looking for you. I didn't know he was alive so that was pretty scary. You'd already grabbed your food and gone so he stayed for waffles." 

"Wait, were they Captain America waffles?" The billionaire's eyes narrowed. 

"Well yeah, I did make them." She smiled. 

"He never stood a chance."  

"Nothing happened, not back then...nothing's happened since then really." She sighed.  

"I suppose you just flip out and demand my jets for just nothing then?" He nudged her foot with his. 

"I'd do the same for you." 

"Are you avoiding the subject by making it about me? Because really, that is a genius move and it nearly worked but I am also a genius."  

"I guess since most of Phil's people know," she sighed, her head thumping back against metal. "I guess is the little things. Just gradually seeing bits beneath that suit of his. That day in the lab when you and Steve got into it and Phil showed up, he told him off.  He shouted at his childhood hero for me. He sent me little souvenirs from places he visited, really stupid and awesome souvenirs like my pet rock and that unicorn doorstop." 

"And you thought he wasn't interested?" He asked in disbelief. 

"Well, it's hard to tell with you superheroes and agent types. Most of you have issues which make you big softies the moment someone feeds or hugs you."  

"See now I'm torn between needing to know all the juicy details and being horrified that Agent got his lips anywhere near you or anybody." He cringed. 

"Just stop talking." She told him. 

"So...you guys worked it out?"  

"No, yes...I don't know sort of." She shook her head. "We sort just went back to how things were before I kissed him. I think there's just an understanding that we're cool as long as we just stay as we are." 

"Well, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." He muttered, glancing at the controls for a moment before getting up to sit next to her. "He's the guy you want?" Darcy swallowed and nodded. "Then you don't give up. You deserve whoever you want and he is stupid if he doesn't do anything about it." 

"What I want or deserve doesn't matter. You can't just make someone love you." She huffed.  

"It's impossible not to love you." He told her, dropping an arm around her shoulders and tugging her against him. "And you don't need to worry, he's like a terminator or something, he came back from the dead. Nothing is going to keep Agent down." 

"I love you boss." She told him, wiping her eyes again. 

"Love you to Darce." He squeezed her tighter. "He's going to be fine."


	17. Chapter 17

Darcy was off the Quinjet before the ramp even finished touching the ground. 

“Where is he?” she asked the Agents stood at the back of their own jet. They just pointed inside the ramp without a word. Inside the plane she followed the sound of shouting to find Skye arguing with Agent May and a male Agent she didn’t know. It was clear that they were arguing about what to do with Coulson who was stood trying to stop the fighting.

"Jesus Christ." She muttered, shoving past them and reaching for the man. "emotional range of a thimble the lot of you." 

His bunk was a pull out in his office, Darcy made quick work of locking the office door behind them and tugging the bed out to place him on. He helpfully flopped on it. 

“Darcy?” he blinked belatedly. 

“You look like hell, if you aren’t injured then let’s get you a nap.” She said without preamble, dropping her jacket on his desk and approaching him. As she took in his appearance, his train of thought became clear. Even if she didn’t know the exact cause or exactly how to fix it, she could see what he was thinking. He sat on the end of his bunk staring at his arms. She knew that one of those arms wasn’t real flesh but if she didn’t know which one, she wouldn’t be able to tell. His hands shook and she reached to squeeze them in hers.

"You're not broken, you're not a monster or anything else you're thinking." She told him firmly. She released his hands, reaching up and tugging his tie off, before tossing it on the floor. She unfastened the top two buttons of his shirt and then moved to tug off his shoes. "You're still fucking human. Everyone, even those people that don't go through a bunch of screwed up shit, they still need help sometimes." 

"Miss Lewis-" 

"Pfft, yeah shut up secret agent man. You can go back to putting on the game face tomorrow but right now I'm helping whether you want me to or not." He wasn’t her boss, he couldn’t order her away and he wasn’t really in a fit state to force her. Or at least she hoped he wasn’t…she’d seen him do some pretty badass things when injured or dead on his feet.

"Darcy...you shouldn't-" 

"Come on, belt too." She said, pushing him to lie back so that she could unbuckle his belt and tug it free of his pants. She stood up and marched across the room, opening the mini fridge and pulling a bottle of water free and opening it. She handed it to him with a blunt look that had him complying wordlessly. 

"I'm fine now." He told her after taking a couple of mouthfuls.

"No you're not." She said absently toeing off her shoes. She tugged off her sweater and then crawled onto the bunk beside him. "You’re staying right here and I'm staying right here. Don't panic I'll keep my clothes on." With that she simply stared at him until he shifted to lie back on the bunk, before getting herself comfy and curling up beside him. As before, there was no entangled limbs or inappropriate actions, she just stayed next to him, her side against his and her head dropped against his shoulder. He was in one piece, he wasn’t dying. She let out a deep breath of relief as she listened to his breathing until he fell asleep. 

When she woke it was to the embarrassing feeling of being watched. Sure enough, when she opened her eyes, she found Phil staring down at her. This wasn't Agent Coulson, this was Phil...the man who had let his guard down on rare occasions and let her in. She had been expecting the complete opposite. Instead she found him now propped up on his side, his hand trailing absently along her arm as he watched her. The silence was killing her. She wanted to say something or him to say something but anything she said was likely to be blurted out and stupid and break this spell they had. 

"Thank you." He said quietly at last, squeezing her arm. “I don’t know how you always know what people need but I’m grateful for it.”

"What time is it?" She asked, brushing her hair back from her eyes. 

"Five." 

"Feels like I slept longer than that." 

"in the morning." He added in amusement. She was pleased to see a small hint of that amusement reach his eyes, making the shadows a little less obvious.

"oh." She blinked in surprise, sitting up. 

"Stay." He said, his arm reached out to her. "Barring an emergency everyone is having a lie in so...you could stay, if you wanted to." 

"Are you going to freak out if I take my jeans off?" She asked after a moment. 

"No." He chuckled. "I can’t imagine they're very comfortable for sleeping in." 

With that she shuffled out of her jeans and then skillfully unfastened her bra and tugged it out from under her top. 

"Come on, you too." She commented, crawling back on the bed. Not having the inclination to fight her at that moment, Phil simply unfastened and shuffled his own pants off, before pulling back the covers and gesturing for Darcy to get under them. He sat on the bunk for a moment, tugging his shirt off also before sliding in next to her. 

Darcy snuggled her way under his arm until she rested on his chest. She thought perhaps this should feel different. It should feel more awkward or perhaps more...sexual? Instead it just felt warm and relaxed. She contently closed her eyes and slid her arm across his stomach to curl around him. A few moments later she felt him press a kiss to the crown of her head. 

"I don't know what I’d do without you Darcy Lewis." He told her fondly. 

"I know, I am pretty awesome." She grinned. "I sort of feel sorry for all those people that never get to meet me." He laughed aloud at that. "Of course, you are pretty awesome too sooo...you'd probably be fine, things would just be a bit more dull without me around." 

"Definitely dull, all those aliens and superheroes and enhanced individuals to deal with would be very boring without you to nag me afterwards." 

"You know when you have women in your bed, being sarcastic generally isn't considered charming." She told him.

"Oh, charming? Is that what I'm supposed to be doing here?" He murmured, shifting slightly to look at her better. 

"I don't know." She admitted quietly. "I think we decided that the ball is pretty much in your court at this point." He sighed and dropped his head to press his forehead to hers for a moment, just enjoying the comfort of having someone close.

“I have nothing to offer you but chaos and probably lies and danger and death.” He told her sadly.

“You don't need to offer me anything.” She told him seriously. “I'm not asking for a marriage proposal or anything here, I just want you not to shut me out. That's it, that's all I want.” His mouth covered hers, arms tugging her closer until he was wrapped around her. 

“What if…what if it was?” He mumbled, against her lips.

“What if what was what?” She asked, panting out a breath before kissing him again.

“A proposal.” 

Darcy leant back, abruptly ending their kiss to stare at him in disbelief. “This from the man who avoided me for three weeks after I kissed him.”

“I'm an idiot.” He nodded. “If we’re going to do this, it would make me feel better to know that you'll be taken care of if the worst happens.”

“That is not a reason to marry someone that you’re technically not even dating.” She said sitting up. “I'm not marrying you because you think you're going to die again. That is like the worst proposal ever!”

“Darcy, you know that's not the only reason.” He snatched his hand out, catching her wrist and tugging her back to him. “We've wasted enough time already. We've been dancing around one another for over a year.”

“Then we could actually try dating like normal people.” She pointed out.

“But we aren't normal people. We don't get to just go on a date, we would probably only spend a week each month even in the same state.” He explained.

“And that adds up to me being Mrs Agent how?!”

“Because it gives me something to hold on to, to know you're mine, to know you're there somewhere. It's a promise. A promise that no matter where in the world or possible other world, we are…”

“You should have led with that.” She cut him off, pressing her lips to his. “OK, Phil Coulson I promise to love you every moment of forever.”

“Did you just quote twilight at me?”

“Yes I did because I have nothing in my head as romantic as what you just said.” She replied, before they both burst out laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eep! Only like two chapters to go!


End file.
